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The Forest of Darkening Glass (RPG)
The Forest of Darkening Glass was a tabletop roleplaying game created by Brandon Lachmann that was inspired by a book by Fletcher Dawson. Locations * INTRO: SLUDGE BANK After escaping Shardtower, Beyell washes up at the FILTRATION LAB. Marrick’s Floating Bubble bursts as he steps onto the pebble shore. The bank is muddy and full of broken stones and debris. Across the water to the West are the Smoglands. Nothing exists there. Adventurers crossing the river will be forced back, the rolling grey smog too polluted to breathe. To the north is a large suction pipe running from under the surface of the river into the lower level of the lab. A large iron grate lays across its mouth, preventing access from the river, held in place by the force of the water suction. A small metal staircase by the pipe leads up to (1a) THE TERRACE. If an adventure removes the grate, there is a 75% chance they will be sucked into the pipe, drowned, crushed, and then filtered! A sweep of the bank (magical or physical) reveals two golden quarters in the mud, as well as small pieces of trash with no value. On the desk are some scientific books on Filtration systems and a stack of reports in folders waiting to be signed. There is also a SQUEEZY STRESS-TOY in the shape of a smiley Mazeball (can be taken). The two grey filing cabinets on the South wall are locked. On the other side of the door is a small table with a large lamp. Above the lamp is a poster for FLEAGREEN’S CIRCUS. The blind are partially shuttered on the windowed East wall. If Beyell looks through the blinds he can see Tent City Square. When Beyell takes his seat Professor Green introduces himself as the Supervisor and gives out the following information regarding Beyell’s quest to escape Junktown. The professor speaks in a soft, kind voice and tells of how he and his brother FLEAGREEN help outcast children adjust to life outside the Shard. Fleagreen provides food, water, and shelter for the new arrivals. Professor Green siphons the city’s power and water to help Fleagreen’s operation running. “Junktown used to be a proud and prosperous district of Shard City, but years of neglect has turned it into a wasteland. Our home is now just a power station for the city. The recycling plant turns rubbish from the junkyards into fuel that feeds the giant turbines generating energy for the tower. Most folk end up working there, shoveling salvage for Recyclops in exchange for meager food rations. You don’t want to work in Junktown, do you? You want to escape all this. Well, I know some kids have escaped. No one deserves this life. They blew up the roads around us, they think we’re blocked in. But there’s another way, if you’re not afraid of a little adventure?” Professor Green explains that the ‘Travellers Disc’ has been unearthed in Junktown. With it Beyell can teleport to wherever he needs to go. The location is hidden but its position can be located by activating four Neogic tracking beacons. “Blessed with a gift-game of The Riddling Infinite.” He explains. “Her followers believe that no prize is worth winning without challenge.” Professor Green reaches into his desk and offers Beyell a leather wrist strap embedded with a coin shaped clear crystal. “Take this. If you want to beat the game don’t take it off.” This is a NEOGIC RESONATOR – they crystal glows in the vicinity of Neomagic, its light grows stronger the closer the wearer gets to the source. Professor Green offers some advice. “Be wary, this won’t be easy. Many have failed to activate even the first beacon and now work in the junkyards, their spirits broken.” Suddenly the badge on Professor Green’s lab coat flashes red, and he gets up to leave, grabbing a file from the pile on his desk. Before he leaves Professor Green reaches into the filing cabinet and pulls out a package. He asks Beyell to deliver a battery pack to Fleagreen. He wishes Beyell good luck, and asks that he waits a moment before leaving. They shouldn’t be seen together. If Beyell tries to leave now he’ll find the door is locked. Fortunately there is a visitors magikey in the desk drawer. The filing cabinet is now empty, the other is full of reports. * FILTRATION LAB The Filtration Lab is a wedge shaped building of glass and steel, the west side is covered in the grim of the Smoglands. Beyell is looking at the back of the building, the long diagonal following the flow of the river north from Shardtower’s exit pipe. The lab filters water from Sludge River, purifies it, and pumps water into the reservoir most that surrounds the Shardtower. The Lab is on the ground floor reached via the steps, and the pumps are in the basement, under the lab, inaccessible from the outside. The walls of the building vibrate to the touch, and there is a constant humming in the air. Beyell washes up on the riverbank by the filtration lab and meets Professor Green. B is told there’s a way out of Junktown by activating four beacons that will reveal a teleport device called The Traveller’s Disc. Green gives him a Neogic Resonator to find the beacon and also a package to deliver to Green’s brother. B is surprised to find the first beacon is in the lab building. * 1a – THE TERRACE The terrace is a wedge-shaped, 20ft at its longest width and 50ft long. Along the edge is a metal railing. There is a glass door in the center of the wall with a keypad next to it. Above the door is a security camera (not working). As Beyell climbs the steps the door opens and PROFESSOR GREEN motions for Beyell to come through into (1b) – THE MAIN CORRIDOR. * 1b – MAIN CORRIDOR They enter a long (50ft) corridor running north to south. At the north end, there is a magi-locked door. The door is labelled FILTRATION AREA – NO UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY. This room cannot be opened without the right magikey. Professor Green silently leads Beyell to a door in the east wall near the south end of the corridor that leads to (1c) – THE WAITING ROOM. There are broken security cameras at both ends of the corridor. The south end of the corridor leads to 1e – RECEPTION AREA. * 1c – WAITING ROOM Beyell is taken through the waiting room into Prof Green’s office. The room is large and well lit. There is a yellow sofa, a small table and some magazines. Bookshelves on the north and south walls are full of science textbooks. The East wall is glass from floor to ceiling, so grimy the imposing Terminus Building is barely visible. The door in the north wall leads to (1d) – GREEN’S OFFICE * 1d – GREEN’S OFFICE Beyell is led into a room similar to the waiting room. Professor Green immediately takes a seat by his big oak desk by the North wall. He will gesture for Beyell to sit in the chair on the other side. * THE OUTCAST PROCESSING BUILDING – Children are lowered from a platform into the courtyard and then process in bathes to be turned onto the streets. Rejected shard tower children are transported to the courtyard and then processed in batches to be turned onto the streets. * TENT CITY SQUARE – The outcasts of terminus live here in tents B crosses the Terminus outcasts of Tent City Square. He finds Fleagreen giving out food in his circus tent and gives him the batteries from his brother. Fleagreen tells B that he’s never found a beacon but the Ratticans know everything in this town. * RATTICAN CAMP – This is the home of the street rat gang. They terrorize the rich inhabitants of the towers. They communicate using their own individual sign language. B goes to see Maw & Paw. When B offers Little Beady a toy, Maw lets B run an errand for her in return for information. B escorts Little Beady through Slumblock to the Hotspring so that Little Beady can have her bath. When they return to camp, B is told he needs to break into the compound and look for a hidden trapdoor. * SLUMBLOCK - People live in the shell of a warehouse. * HOTSPRING - A hotspring. The water is heated by the generators from the filtration lab. The water is slightly irradiated and has regenerative properties. * UNDER THE TOWERS B explores the under-passages of the Tower with Little Beady and finds the next beacon. When he exits the passages he can see the junkyard compound ahead. * THE COMPOUND - Fenced off from the rest of junktown, the citizens of the compound have created their own community. B faces The Growmancer, but is shown mercy as he’s clean and healthy. B is allowed to stay the night. Finding the trapdoor he enters the passages under the Towers. Little Beady is there and offers help as a thank you for the toy. * THE LAST IRONHORSE IN THE JUNKYARD COMPOUND - A couple of old ironhorses have been left to ruin. In the compound, B finds a barely functioning Ironhorse. Realizing that it may have useful information, B goes to find a power source that allows him to talk to the Last Ironhorse about the junkyard. * ABANDONED CAMP - An adventurers camp, now deserted. The adventurers were consumed by the circuit trees. Some small supplies will be left. * THE MINER CAMP - There is a group of seven miners who call themselves the junkyard dogs. They live here. B finds Taytuz, Mardeh, Kroggeh, Ehrode, Midduk, Annorl, and Towdya, the Junkyar Dogs. They tell B that an offering to Recyclops will open the door to the Delves. They also tell him where to find a suitable offering. * GATEROOM - There is a gate that bars creatures from entering the recyclops area. It’s guarded by yardians: animated junk versions of shardians. Stronger, slow, low intelligence, also very aggressive. B finds the portcullis that leads into the Junkyard Delve. Inside, he finds his way to another shaft, encountering several monsters and traps. B has first encounter with the Junk Troll. * RUBBLEFISH LAKE - This used to be the city aquarium. The roof collapsed in and now the pool is full of rubblefish. * CIRCUIT TREES - This is a trap area – there is a ‘neo-logram’ projecting a marble plinth with ‘the traellers disk’ on it. * LAIR OF THE JUNKWORM - A giant junkworm that lives under the bridge. * RECYCLOPS - This is a 25ft hole in the ground. If you look into the pit a giant eye looks back. If anyone was to fall into the eye of the recyclos the body will be returned to the surface but any items deemed recyclable are lost. At Recyclops, B makes his offering and is rewarded, but it’s not what he expected. * SECRET CONTROL ROOM Just south of the gate is a secret room. Access is via a hidden panel. Turning off the generator here will open the north portcullis blocking the way to a prison. * SECRET CONTROL ROOM 2 - This is hidden in the lower southwest section of the junkyard. The lever to activate the portcullis is guarded by a giant yardian. * THE PRISON - Two portcullises prevent access to a second life shaft. That has been turned into a tower. There are five levels to the tower. The lower levels are store rooms. Level three is guarded preventing access to the cells on level four. * LADY BARLEYWADE’S PRISON B finds Lady Barleywade captive in Junk Troll’s prison. He rescues her and finds out she has the final beacon. Using all four beacons to locate the Traveller’s Disc, he realizes the Troll has it, so he sets off to find him using the Neogic Resonator as a radar tracker. * JUNKTROLL’S LAIR B confronts the Junk Troll in his lair. After a showdown, the Junk Troll teleports the disc away, but it doesn’t go far. B is triumphant, and uses it to reunite Lady Barleywade with her love. As a reward, Lady Barleywade tells B where the next part of the quest begins! B teleports out of Junktown, but where will the next adventure take him? Characters Lady Barleywade Lady Barleywade owns and manages the towers, a housing complex for the wealthier families of Shardtown. Now that Junktown has become a run-down area, no one leaves the tower. Lady Barleywade is the chair of the housing committee and maintains tight social controls on the block. But secretly Lady Barleywade hates this set up and will often sneak out at night on her own adventures. On one of these adventures she met and fell in love with a Junktown patrol guard called Bonavarde. No one has seen lady Barleywade for several weeks, and Bonavarde is very concerned. The Junk Troll The Junk Troll grew up in the junkyards and knows them better than anyone. He would forage for unusual items that turned up in the yard. Has found secret rooms and treasure hidden in the yards that no one knows about. His hidden lair is full of interesting and rare items and this have become his obsession. One night he came across Lady Barleywade and added her to his collection. He keeps her locked away and hopes that one day she will come to love him, as he is infatuated with her. He tries to win her love with trinkets. She refuses everything so the troll has started mining the forbidden places and this is how he uncovered the traveller’s disc. Not realizing the true potential of the disc (because he’s not very smart) together with a scrying ball he uses the teleporter to find and steal rare an magic items that others unearth, in the hope that one of these will win over Lady Barleywade. Bonavarde Bonavarde is one of the old patrol guards that oversees the junkyard lift. The life shaft down to the junkyard broke a while ago and he and the gang haven’t had much to do in months. Security is now lax at the lift. Bonavarde loves old adventure movies, which he watches through his magi-vision wall (basically a big tv!) And he has modelled himself on Errol Flynn, but with a bear. One night he met Lady Barleywade on one of her midnight adventures and they fell in love. When she disappeared Bonavarde assumed she was list in the maze of the junkyards below. He went on a scouting missions but found nothing. Now he keeps a fire lit on top of the lift shaft for her return. Rattican Clan The Ratticans are a family of Murrids (rat-humans) that have thrived on the streets of Junktown. They know the town very well and have secret passageways an tricks that can get them into almost anywhere. Their favorite marks are the rich families of Barleywade, however, with the lockdown, there are slim pickings there. Maw and Paw Rattican are the head of the family, with the kids tails, Barry the Bite, Elsie Gnaw, and Little Beady. Maw has a big mouth, and if you need something from the Ratticans she is the one you speak to. Paw is the muscle and says little. If you need equipment, spells, or weapons you visit the Ratticans. If you have the money or something they need that is. Professor Green Professor Green is a tall nerdy scientist who works at the filtration lab, he’s very smart. He grew up with his twin brother, Flea, in Shardtower. When it came time for the first grade test he passed easily but flea did not and was cast out into Junktown. As soon as he could, Green requested a work assignment in the filtration lab outside so he could track down his brother. During this time Green became a follower of the riddling incarnate. Eventually Green found his brother and now they work together to help the outcast children on the streets of Junktown. Fleagreen Fleagreen and his twin brother called Shardtower their original home. Flea was cast out after the first grade test, soon calling Junktown home. The small circus hired him to be a clown. Seeing smiling faces was a welcome change to all the downturned faces of the hard working citizens. He climbed the circus ranks and was soon in charge and changed the name to Fleagreen’s Circus. He even found an old top hat to make him look like an official ringmaster. He never expected his twin brother, Professor Green to get a job at the filtration plant. The two were no sooner reunited when they knew what to do. Provide food, water, sand shelter for the new arrivals, the outcast children. Encounters Trial One The story in Brandon's RPG told of Beyell’s journey to escape Junk Town. This was a parallel to Brandon's own journey to escape the mundane world, and New York City in particular. Beyell had to find and solve 4 beacons in order to find the way out. The devoted believed Brandon had to do several things in the weeks leading up to his escape. Parallel to the story, Brandon believed he had to find 4 beacons, in New York City, before he could find the way out. A variety of documents were provided to the Mountaineers by the Devoted to replicate Brandon's journey. The files included typewritten RPG documents, audio, and photographs. First Beacon The first beacon was described a statue of a bearded gentleman surrounded by four jets of water running over 4 smaller statues surrounding it. Each of the smaller statues had a plaque, which was represented by the 4 plaques found in the Devoted's documents. One of the plaques had a number - 20587, which mapped to the date February 5th, 1887. Combined with audio of an unknown individual saying lines from Othello, the Mountaineers soon realized that Giuseppe Verdi and librettist Arrigo Boito adapted Shakespeare’s play to Otello. It was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan on 5 February 1887http://forum.basecamp33.com/t/lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-audio/176/7. Based on the clue, the first beacon was located at the Giuseppe Verdi monumenthttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/solved-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-first-beacon/169/21. Second Beacon The second beacon was described as a combination to a lock. There were three sliders held in place by a metal cleat. Each slider had eight one inch square panels, each with a different symbol. There were three holes in the cleat that were the same size and shape as the panels. Beyell could slide the panels left and right, until he found the one slider pattern that would activate the beaconhttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/solved-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-second-beacon/183. The different symbols related to areas within Junktown. A short story included in the documents served as the key to understanding the tiles, which called for a list of places, a list of emotions/reactions and a list of thingshttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/solved-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-tiles/174/19. Mountaineers circled each mention of a place, emotion, or object in the story. The devoted had included a combination within the documents, which mapped tohttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/solved-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-tiles/174/18: Move the first list to the left 7 times Move the first list to the left 4 times Move the first list to the right 5 times Move the second list to the right 6 times Move the second list to the right 3 times Move the second list to the left 4 times. Move the last list to the left once Move the last list to the right 2 times Move the last list to the right 5 times According to the story, the starting tiles were found to behttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/solved-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-tiles/174/37: Lake, powerplant, junkyard, terminus, circus, lab, compound, spare Anger, happy, danger, safety, quiet, careful, help, unknown Beacon, woman, monster, man, side, reward, trap, door The starting combo was found to be lab, quiet, and woman. The ending combo is spare, happy, and door. The combination successfully activated the second beacon. Third Beacon The third beacon was part of some kind of chessboard puzzle. The beacon was related to a series of polaroids which contained a poem: Walking twixt rise and fall from the spot on the lawn I passed flaming hearts and strung stories. A six legged king, pointed arms crossed defiantly, snapped at me. I decided to pause. The wyvern laughed at my seeming error of judgment But I had realized my destination was not the roundabout after all. The poem referred to areas within central park, which mapped to: The Great Lawn The Delacorte Theater was the rising and falling platform The Romeo and Juliet attraction was the flaming hearts The Marionette Theatre was the strung stories The six legged king was the sea crabs at the base of the obelisk The Belvedere Castle Wyvern was the wyvern. The Ramble was the roundabout Because the individual stopped at the wyvern after realizing their error in judgement, the Belvedere Castle was the key to activating the third beaconhttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/solved-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-third-beacon/185/15. Fourth Beacon The fourth beacon was related to a short story on the Mask of Ojorad. Within the story was an illustration of the mask, and in the illustration was ornamentation that mapped to a real world location. The location was Hernshead - the Ladies Pavilionhttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/solved-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-fourth-beacon/187/53. Fourth Element and Fifth Entity The fourth element, air, was developed by the Mountaineers. They were required to write a short story, which was then altered by the Devotedhttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/brandon-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-general/147/234. The fifth entity was a character portrait of Fleagreen, which Mountaineers drew and wrote up a profile forhttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/brandon-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-general/147/224. Using all four beacons, the Mountaineers were able to triangulate the location of the Traveler's Disk, which was located at the Triplet's Bridgehttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/brandon-lachmann-the-fourth-fragment-general/147/282. The Traveler's Disk had two numbers on it, both of which led to new materials from The Devoted. Trial Two Within the files was an audio file that listed off the name of television shows. Several of the episodes linked to the same television show. The mountaineers soon realize that the audio file was combined with a set of three different maze maps. Each episode, sorted by air date, would connect to a left or right direction based on the maze, with the first and last episodes simply being the start and end areas. Within the audio was also morse code, and the tones used for the morse code lined up with the letters on the map. Within the files were also mentions of the animals from The Minnying of Ojorad: The Cat and the Saint The Mouse and the Sorcerer The Owl and the Lady The Toad and the Angel The animals each led to significant statues in New York which, when used as a starting points for the mazes, could be overlaid with maps of New York City. Following the maze led to new significant points in the mundane world. The locations were: Lady - somewhere between E68th and E64th Street, east of the park Saint - Between Gold Street and FRD Drive south of Brooklyn Bridge Angel - between 37th and 33rd St - East of FDR Sorcerer - around 33rd and Broadway And the starting animals were: Owl - Lady - Alice in Wonderland statue (the nesting ‘hat’ trees of the Dor) Cat - Minerva at Columbia Uni ( Athena’s Copse) Toad - Frick House (the clay houses of Harrynick) Mouse - Sorcerer Fortitude at Central Park Library (Fortitude’s Peak) The pairings were found on an additional document from the Devoted - “Traveller’s Guide to the Isles of Brin.” The pairs, triangulated, led to The Cloisters. Going over the unused materials, Mountaineers realized that the Seven Tributes of Rochefoucauld mapped to the Unicorn Tapestries, which were held in the Cloistershttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-one/224/106. The materials included a new poem with the words "2pm, 7pm, and 10pm" handwritten at the bottom. Each two-line stanza between them was a coded instruction for how to find each clock, and hints on a phone number that Mountaineers were meant to call. 6 - The last chiming of the clock at central park zoo 46 - The street where the Nathaniel Fisher clock is located with the “cent” dropped 88 - 8 for 8 meters, at the MetLife clocktower 10 - Clock at 14th and 8th av. Number of Bees on the two faces plus the number of entrances (8 + 2) 33 - Paramount Theater has 33 floors The numbers combined made 646-883-1033 and, when called at 2pm, 7pm, or 10pm led to a new clue: A ring, a buzz, a tick, a hum. It matters where you’re calling from. You have them all but what comes after? Time to look down on the Crafter. From the clue, Mountaineers considered Brandon being The Crafter, he buried himself in a shell (the subway station). They realized there was a clock on City Hall. The subway has glass panels, so it was possible to see them from abovehttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-two/225/179. The Mountaineers believed they needed to call the phone number outside the William Barthman store at 178 Canyon of Heroes. There was a pay phone just outside the storehttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-two/225/214. Calling from te payphone at the designated time, the Mountaineers received a message from the adult Brandon, who told them to find the Glass Reporthttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-two/225/331. In addition, Brandon told Mountaineers to 'mind the times,' giving them their next cluehttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/20. Calling the phone number at 2pm granted a new message from Brandonhttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/45. He told them to continue on the path and more information would be available at the next time - 7pm on the next dayhttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/48. The next message contained more information on Brandon's plan and a warning to pay careful attention to the final timehttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/116. Brandon told recruits that "when the gate that separates patience and fortitude unlocks you will be at the end of the trail I made," which led recruits to the New York Public Library, where the two lion statues were named Patience and Fortitude. At 10pm, the final clue was released, which was a robotic voice listing authors and library sectionshttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/199: Cavendish-North Peters-South Norgen-North Trubetskoy-South Unexplained 434 Classical Myths 498 Chronolgy 177 Bookmans 561 The lines with the authors matched up to the other lines, which included hints on book titleshttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/275: Principles of Phonology - Trubetzkoy - 177 The Encyclopedia of the Unexplained: Magic, Occultism, and Parapsychology - Cavendish - 434 Classical Myths in English Literature - Norton - 498 The Bookman’s Glossary - Jean Peters - 561 All four the the books were found to be in the same area, General Research - Room 315 (aka The Rose Main Reading Room)http://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/230. The numbers were table numbers, hints to help find the books more easilyhttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/310. Within each of the books was a page of the Glass Report, and a handwritten message from Sacha. The password on Sacha's note led to a new page on the Forest of Darkening Glass websitehttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/335, which in turn led to another page on the Book of Briars site. The Book of Briars page was a quiz on the Glass Report and succesfully answering all the answers led to the discovery of Fragment Four, Siren's Lacehttp://forum.basecamp33.com/t/fourth-fragment-the-secret-mission-part-three/226/337. The second trial had been completed. Gallery PolaroidsFrag4.png Maps.png BL101186 trial1 1 100112.jpg BL101186 trial1 1 1.jpg Barleywade.png Bonavarde.jpg Rattican.jpg Profgreen.jpg BL101186 trial1 1 02.jpg secondbeaconcombo.jpg fullquestionsFoDG.png References Category:Book Category:Phase One